Fried Chicken

All other hoses appear to be fine, but the lower ABC hose is sweating slightly.
It has the special heat protection sleeve on it.

How long can it run like this? Does it require a total flush of the fluid? I checked the other hoses and NONE of them seem to have this problem. Is there a way to get this by some aftermarket shop?

Thanks!

tusabes

Weeping hose means it's time to replace it . It could last a while longer but much better to fix it before it blows as it can Danage your pump if it blows and the system runs dry

best to get the official part from Mercedes and have an independent shop change it .

Welwynnick

Yes, you definitely need to replace or repair the hose, otherwise it will let you down catastrophically. There's no way to tell when that will happen, it could be one day or one year.

What you're seeing is an early warning from your car, and if everyone kept an eye out for this sort of thing, no-one would be crying out for coil-overs.

Yes, there are various after-market solutions. I've been using compression-jointed repair sections on all my ABC hoses in the engine compartment, and I've never had a failure in three years.

First of all, you need to be sure which hose is leaking. There are two ABC hoses and one PAS hose d own there. The PAS hose is long semi-circular one. Are you sure it's not that? If you're confident it's an ABC, here's an illustrated summary of what I'm currently fixing on my second V12TT.

I raised the car, drained the fluid and removed the pipe - a few minutes' work for the valve end, and a few HOUR'S work for the "quick release" connector. I got my usual hydraulics contractor to make a new 3/8" two-wire hose with 10mm compression fittings:



They did it while I waited, and it cost £41. I scraped the paint off and thoroughly cleaned the metal pipes, then cut them with a plumber's pipe cutter, and fitted the new hose to the clean ends:



I ran some Pentosin CHF-11S through the pipe, and part-filled it before fitting. Access is awkward to fit the hose to the valve assy, so its easier when the headlight, the horn and the headlight washer are removed.



Here's the hose in front of the sub-frame. I skipped the solid pipe section there and protected the hose with a section of heater hose (I had a lot lying around...) and that fitted the existing bracket quite neatly.



Getting all the jacks and stands from underneath the car is tricky when the suspension doesn't support itself, but eventually I started the engine and raised the suspension up and down several times, keeping the reservoir fully topped up. It didn't leak a drop. A couple of days later I finished putting the charge cooler together and took the family on holiday. All that happened was I got a slight leak from a headlight washer pipe (another "quick-fit" connector ......).

That's how I look after ABC . This was a similar job to fixing the damper hose, but much easier this time due to better access, and simply because I'd done it before. Apart from the seized quick release connection, it'squite straightforward.


I just replaced all the ABC hoses in my engine compartment, as I happened to have easy access (even to the ABC pump) and I have another lesson learned to pass on.

I used two different hydraulics shops, and I handed over my hoses to one of them to repair. They cut the hose out, made a new section with compression fittings, and fitted them. Unfortunately, they didn't clean out the sawing debris, which was left inside for me to remove. Also, they tightened the fitting, so the ferrule gripped onto the old pipe. Once you do that, it's there to stay.

Using a compression fitting has several advantages:

1. No need for any special tools.
2. Its easy to replace the replacement pipe when that fails.
3. The hose can rotate about the pipe.
4. The compression fitting can move up and down the bare pipe to some extent.

If the shop fits the new hose to the pipe, you lose that last advantage. Therefore Id recommend just buying the hose and fitting it yourself. You have the opportunity to get the length and angle of the new hose section just right, which is quite important. You don't want any hydraulic hoses to be installed under tension or twist.

I also recommend that you don't tighten the ferrule yourself until the last possible minute, when the installation is almost complete, then you can tweak the length until its just right. You can also make sure its clean inside.

To get the length of the hose right, just add 30mm to length of the section you're going to cut out. Compression fittings generally need 15mm at each end. Make sure you know where your pipe cutter or hacksaw is going to go, or simply cut the section out and measure that. Just a few cautions though:

1. Before cutting anABC metal pipe, remove the paint by scraping and abrade it so its clean FIRST.
2. When you cut the pipe, make sure you leave the inside of the pipe free of swarf.
3. Be very careful to get the length of the new flexible hose right - you must never run flexible hoses in twist or in tension.
4. Its a difficult temptation, but never tighten the compression joints until everything else is fitted just right.

Nick

Fried Chicken

I think it might be the power steering hose!

It’s the lowest host with heat shielding on it when looking up from underneath. I noticed it as I was doing an oil change.

[edit]

I'm fairly confident this is the host:
2204602324

JESUS CHRIST $300 FOR A ****ING HYDRAULIC HOSE. I'm thinking of just having it fixed in a hydraulic shop. What kind of shielding does it need? I'm pretty sure only the squishy hose part needs fixing.

Welwynnick

The ABC hoses run in pretty much straight lines.


The PAS hose runs in a semi-circle.


Nick